Network News

Community Impact and Hands On San Francisco
Announce Agreement to Merge Organizations

Two outstanding CityCares affiliates have recently announced they will join forces to become one volunteer organization, combining strengths and resources for hundreds of community service agencies in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Community Impact and Hands On San Francisco have signed a definitive agreement to merge the two nonprofit volunteer organizations. The merger is expected to close by April 1, 2004.

The combined organization, Hands On Bay Area, will serve as a single resource for volunteerism and civic engagement in the Bay Area and will create and promote volunteer opportunities for individuals, as well as community and corporate groups. Bringing together Community Impact and Hands On San Francisco's respective strengths and resources, Hands On Bay Area will have a combined volunteer base of more than 9,500 volunteers that will serve and support more than 300 community service agencies throughout the Bay Area. Hands On Bay Area volunteers are expected to complete 120 community service projects each month and provide more than 47,500 volunteer hours in the first year of the new organization.

"In merging the volunteer programming and regional expertise of both Hands On San Francisco and Community Impact, we will be able to engage more volunteers, serve more community agencies and create a greater depth and breadth of volunteer opportunities," said Beth Meyer, executive director of Community Impact and future executive director of Hands On Bay Area. "Hands On Bay Area will be an expert voice on community and corporate volunteerism, and as one organization, will ultimately improve the communities where we work and live."

Hands On Bay Area will be headquartered in San Francisco. The current Hands On San Francisco office and Community Impact's Mountain View office will be maintained for some period of time after the merger is completed. Hands on Bay Area will have an ongoing regional office presence, which will be determined by the needs of its service areas.

"Hands On Bay Area is poised to be the driving force for volunteerism in the Bay Area," said Audrey Evje, current board chair of Hands On San Francisco and future board chair of Hands On Bay Area. "Our vision is to help volunteers better understand the challenges facing the Bay Area and provide them with the opportunity to make a difference in their communities."

Community Impact has been enabling individuals to serve their community through volunteerism since 1988. By creating and managing meaningful volunteer experiences that make it easy for busy, caring people to get involved, Community Impact has addressed some of the most pressing issues facing the Bay Area. Since its founding, Community Impact volunteers have provided more than 200,000 hours of service to their local communities. This past year, Community Impact's 5,000 volunteers have provided more than 25,000 hours of volunteer service to more than 150 nonprofit agencies in five Bay Area counties. All projects are managed by a volunteer project manager, and are completed in a few hours on a weeknight or weekend. Community Impact also makes it possible for corporations to support their communities through volunteerism. Community Impact works with companies such as Levi Straus & Company, Cisco and Sun Microsystems to develop and manage volunteer programs that meet the unique needs of their employees.

Founded in 1994, Hands On San Francisco has been dedicated to helping busy individuals make a positive impact on their community. The organization creates, manages and leads volunteer projects that benefit more than 150 San Francisco agencies including the San Francisco Food Bank, Glide Memorial Church, Hamilton Family Center, Ronald McDonald House, SF AIDS Foundation, and the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department. All projects are coordinated by a volunteer project coordinator and require no more than a few hours commitment. Each month, Hands On San Francisco coordinates and manages more than 70 community service projects that engage more than 4,500 registered volunteers each year. In 2003, Hands On San Francisco volunteers completed 22,500 volunteer hours. Hands On San Francisco also organizes and manages projects for corporations that want to inspire their employees to public service, such as Gap, Inc., Deutsche Bank, Macy's, Starbucks and Digitas.

"Hands On Bay Area will be a leading force in volunteerism and we are all expecting very positive things as a result of this merger," said Michelle Nunn, president and CEO of CityCares. "There is a great deal of enthusiasm about the new organization, and there is no doubt that Hands On Bay Area will continue to build community through service and civic engagement as a CityCares affiliate."

Boston Cares Presents 14 President's Volunteer Service Awards
During its recent 13th Anniversary Celebration and Awards Reception Feb. 9, Boston Cares presented 14 President's Volunteer Service Awards to outstanding recipients. The event, which was hosted by the Boston Globe Foundation, also included award presentations for outstanding community partnerships, corporate partnerships, volunteer service and project leadership. To read the Boston Globe article on some of the PVSA award winners, click on http://www.boston.com.

Hands On Greenville Volunteer Featured
Hands On Greenville volunteer Jeffrey Hunter was recently spotlighted in an article in The Greenville News for the 300 hours of service he has contributed in less than three years. For Hunter's motivating story of how volunteerism has been significant in his life, and why he has been inspired to "make a little difference for someone else," visit http://www.greenvilleonline.com.

Hands On Manila Efforts Highlighted by Media
Hands On Manila has recently been spotlighted in various magazine articles in The Philippines for the outstanding work the organization does. Included in the mentions are HOM's holiday gifts produced for fund-raising purposes. The gifts include a CD, a Giving Guide and note cards featuring moving photos from The Philippines with issues-education summaries on various impact areas the organization's programming affects including health, women's issues and child welfare. The fund-raising project was so successful, it generated approximately eight months worth of operating revenue for the organization. In addition, various magazine articles on HOM appeared in Me and Metro, as well as the following link for story by the Inquirer News Service..

In other news, HOM has begun a shoe drive for children who were victims in the Baseco fires near Manila two months ago. Through April, HOM's "1-2-Give-A-Shoe" program at four locations of The Little Gym will collect children's shoes for distribution at area fire evacuation centers.

Hands On Memphis Names New ED
Andrea Valenzuela has been named the new executive director of Hands on Memphis. Valenzuela comes to Hands on Memphis with considerable experience, having worked with over 100 small business owners and nonprofit organizations throughout the mid-South area as a management consultant with alt.Consulting in areas including strategic planning, financial management and business skills training. Over the past few years she has taught several business classes, including the FastTrac Entrepreneurship training program. Currently, she is a part-time instructor of Economics at Southwest Tennessee Community College. Andrea grew up in Phoenix, AZ and has long believed in the impact of volunteerism. While in college, she worked extensively with CityCares affiliate Make a Difference. She then served two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Bolivia, where she established and directed a paper recycling business with local high school students. Valenzuela holds a Masters in Economics from the University of Memphis and a Bachelor in Anthropology from Arizona State. Fluent in Spanish and active in the Latino community in Memphis, she and her husband, Gilberto, own a small business that rehabs homes in the Memphis area and provides affordable rental housing.

Hands On Orlando Stages Malcolm X Day Of Service
Hands On Orlando partnered with the Islamic Society of Central Florida Feb. 21 for what is believed to be the first community-wide day of service ever held in memory of Malcolm X held on the anniversary of his assassination. "Malcolm X Day…Transforming Life and Community," saw nearly 150 Muslim and non-Muslim volunteers gather for morning service projects in Orlando. That afternoon, volunteers and the community at-large learned more about Malcolm X at the Islamic Society's Center for Peace. Hands On Orlando also built a Malcolm X Web site to facilitate information flow and volunteer signups for the event.

Make A Difference Volunteer Meets With President
In the last edition of SHARES we told you about a number of CityCares affiliate volunteers who have been honored with recent opportunities to meet President Bush in recognition of their service efforts. Add to that list Hilary Juel Afshary, a member of the Make A Difference Board of Directors in Phoenix. Juel Afshary, met with the President in late January his visit to Arizona. A committed volunteer, Juel Afshary describes her work in community service by saying, "I get more than I could ever give."

Pittsburgh Cares
Pittsburgh Cares recently sponsored Clifford the Big Red Dog's visit to the South Hills Borders store, where volunteers assisted children in Clifford crafts and shared Clifford stories. To learn more about this fun project, go to http://www.mvec.org/home.html.

Seattle Works
The recent kick off of Seattle Works' new "Collaborate!" civic engagement program for people in their 20s and 30s was highly successful. More than 160 attendees joined for the launch of our civic engagement initiative, including representatives from 25 different ethnicities, 38 Seattle area neighborhoods and a broad range of industries. Participants mapped their community activities on our Web of involvement, identifying and prioritizing key community issues they care about. They were also able to rate assumptions about their demographic. Those who attended the "Collaborate!" event were very positive about the quality of the experience. Click here to read an editorial from The Seattle Times.

In its next phase of civic engagement programming, Seattle Works will host a series of Conversation Cafés focusing on key issues including "Is our democracy working?" Conversation Cafés will be held at hip bars and will provide young adults with opportunities to combine their voices, connect to others in the community and share their opinions through thoughtful dialogue.

CityCares' Lisa Flick Participates In U.K. Summit on Volunteering
Lisa Flick, CityCares director of programs and services, represented the network, along with Hands On Atlanta AmeriCorps member, Danielle Boyd, during a meeting hosted by the British government last month. The gathering was designed to collect best practices from U.S. volunteer and mentoring groups, which can then be replicated to mobilize Britain's young people and increase community involvement. Lisa Flick, CityCares director of programs and services, represented the network, along with Hands On Atlanta AmeriCorps member, Danielle Boyd, during a meeting hosted by the British government last month. The gathering was designed to collect best practices from U.S. volunteer and mentoring groups, which can then be replicated to mobilize Britain's young people and increase community involvement.

The event engaged representatives from the U.K. service sector with U.S. representatives (staff and AmeriCorps members) from CityCares, USA Freedom Corps, the Corporation for National and Community Service, Innovations in Civic Participation and The Home Depot to make recommendations to Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, to support a national initiative.

Flick was selected as the delegate to report on the group's recommendations at the end of the session to Chancellor Brown. Following the presentation, the Chancellor discussed his impressions in a speech to the National Council for Voluntary Organisations.

"I met with the heads of the U.S. voluntary sector and young people involved in AmeriCorps to hear how those engaged in national community service in America are working across racial and regional lines to build a stronger national community," Chancellor Brown told the Council. "I was struck not only by their enthusiasm for the whole range of volunteering opportunities they were involved in, but by their belief that it is to become the norm rather than the exception."

According to Flick, the trip to London was a "once in a lifetime opportunity" to connect with the U.K. volunteer sector and provide recommendations directly to government leaders.

"Personally, it was an honor to represent CityCares as a spokesperson for our movement and to share recommendations across the Atlantic to bring our countries closer," Flick said. "I know there are even more partnerships that can be leveraged, and I am inspired by the possibilities that these global connections bring our collective movement."

CityCares Details Member Benefits, Announces Expansion Program
From membership benefits to a dollar-for-dollar return on investment, CityCares has made great strides in quantifying the benefits of membership for prospective new network affiliates.

To further outline these benefits and the mutual responsibilities that come with membership, CityCares has developed a new membership agreement. After 15 months of collaboration between CityCares and its affiliates, a new membership agreement was developed that defines responsibilities and expectations for CityCares and its affiliates.

"As CityCares continues to add affiliates in the United States and internationally, the membership agreement will ensure that we maintain the values, culture and quality that characterize our network," explained Megan Ramos, CityCares membership outreach manager. "To help quantify the benefits of membership, CityCares completed a comprehensive report which documents the dollar-for-dollar return on investment to affiliates through their membership in the network."

In 2003, CityCares provided more than $1 million in services to the network made up of both direct cash and in-kind services and donations. The organization disseminated $475,555 in pass-through funding to affiliates, and $666,450 in in-kind services and donations included CityCares National Technology Initiative (CNTI) deployment training, the CityCares Diversity Leadership program, organizational development services and Scholastic Inc. contributions.

Collectively, the value of the resources provided for the affiliate network demonstrated a 3,776 percent return on investment. In addition to the direct pass-through funding provided by CityCares, through their membership in the network, our affiliates were also able to leverage an additional $150,000 in direct funding from national partners.

Ramos said CityCares has launched a new affiliate membership expansion program for 2004 that will include a start-up guide and online resource tool.

"During CityCares' recent national conference, affiliate prospects were able to review our new start-up guide for membership, which provides step-by-step details on what to expect on the path to membership," Ramos reported. "In addition, CityCares is unveiling an online resource tool for membership that will make joining our network even easier."

CityCares is cultivating more than 70 affiliate prospects for 2004, including organizations in Denver, CO; Asheville, NC; Tampa, FL; Louisville, KY; Milwaukee, WI; Ft. Lauderdale, FL; and Nelson Mandela Bay Cares in South Africa - soon to be CityCares' second international affiliate

In addition, this month CityCares hosted a delegation from Afghanistan that was excited and encouraged to hear of the emergence of international affiliates. The group shared details of current volunteer activities taking place in Afghanistan around public health and refugee resettlement, as well as some of the challenges they face rebuilding after 20 years of war. The Afghanis expressed interest in working with CityCares to grow these community-building efforts.

Random Notes

· President Bush's proposed requirements and incentives for donors will be of interest. For details visit http://www.fdncenter.org/pnd/news/story.jhtml?id=59300004.

· CityCare's Membership and Outreach Manager Megan Ramos and Hands On Miami Executive Director Pat Morris will both be presenting at "Reshaping EU/US Relations for the 21st Century: A Transatlantic Community Leaders Conference," to be held in Miami April 26-30. The event brings citizens from both sides of the Atlantic together to allow them to directly debate and imagine converging future. For more Information on the event, visit http://www.tiesweb.org/transatlantic_week/index.htm.

· CityCares has posted a .story on the continuing education opportunities available to managers of volunteers. Click here for details.

· The 18to35 Policy Center recently launched an online resource for young adults, journalists and politicians interested in young adult concerns about pressing public policy issues. With jobs, national security, higher education and healthcare topping the list of concerns of young adults, the site brings together and interprets numerous polling data on the policy concerns. The site's research was used in the creation of the 18-30 Voter Issues Paper, a product of the "Smackdown Your Vote" campaign, in which 18to35 is a partner. The Web site's information will be continually updated to represent the most current attitudes, demographics and behaviors of young Americans. Innovative in-depth policy analysis will soon be available. Click here for details.